1 Kings 18:20-40
In
this passage, all the people of Israel, especially the prophets of
Baal, are gathered at Mount Carmel. Elijah stands with the prophets and
comes up with a plan. He addresses the people, "You've gotta get off
the fence. If Baal is your god, then follow him. If the God of Israel is
your God, then follow him. You can't have both."
He tells the prophets to pick one oxen out of the two that are standing there, butcher it, and lay it on the altar. But, they are not to ignite the offering. He tells them to ask Baal to ignite the altar. The prophets pray all morning long to no avail. They try every religious trick in the book to get the ox to catch on fire, but nothing happens. Elijah starts taunting them, saying, "Is Baal on vacation? Has he overslept?"
After the prophets get their turn at getting Baal to ignite the ox, Elijah steps up. He grabs his ox, butchers it, and lays it on the wood. To add to the suspense, he tells the people to fetch buckets of water and drench the wood, the ox, and the area around the altar three times. Everything is completely soaked in water.
Then Elijah prays, "God, make it known that you are the God of Israel, the true God, and that I am your servant. Make it known that I am doing what you ask me to so that these people can know you and have a chance to change their thinking about who you are."
Immediately, a fire falls down and ignites everything. It burns up the wood, the ox, the dirt, and the water that's sitting in the trench around the altar. When the people see this, they fall to their faces and start worshiping. They realize they've been following a scam, that Baal couldn't answer the prayers they were offering up. Baal couldn't come through. They needed evidence and they got it.
My friend and his wife have been taking care of a couple homeless guys. By night, they've been sleeping in a tent under a bridge, and by day my friends have been giving them meals and showers. One of the guys got bitten by a spider while he was sleeping one night, and my friend took him to the hospital. The bite had gone from bad to worse as the bite turned into a blistering, green, boil. He could barely walk or sit down without splintering pain shooting through his whole body.
The guy knew he needed to get the bite lanced, but he didn't have health insurance. The doctor at the ER simply gave him a prescription for antibiotics, knowing that he was losing money in the deal if he were to lance it. So, we picked him up from the hospital and went to get the prescription. Knowing that antibiotics weren't enough, we called our doctor friend and asked him what we should do. He told us that the boil needed to be lanced in order to evacuate all the poison and fluid. He offered to do it himself the next morning when he got home from work.
As we sat there thinking about what to do, my friend decided to try prayer. He wanted to see if prayer would heal the spider bite. I kind of laughed and told him the prayer was already answered. Our doctor friend already offered to lance the boil. But, my friend was convinced that prayer was just as valid of a solution.
When we got home, it was late. My friend took out his Bible and started reading passages that had to do with suffering and character. The homeless dude listened along and commented throughout the reading. Then, we huddled around and prayed. All three of us prayed in our own screwed up ways, asking God to heal the boil. My friend prayed that the fluid would leak out, and that the boil would go away. I thought back to a story I had read about a handicapped guy sitting beside a pool of water. I thought about Jesus coming up to the guy and telling him to get up. I didn't know what to expect, if anything. I had pretty much reached a conclusion that these kinds of prayers don't work. We spent about twenty minutes praying, then I had to go to sleep.
When I called my friend back a couple days later, I wanted to know if the boil had gone away. This is what he said, "Manny woke up that next day, and his shorts were all crusty. All the fluid had leaked out of the boil. He's walking around fine now, and the pain went away." I went to see for myself, and it was true. The homeless guy was moving around unscathed, pain free.
Do I think going to our doctor friend would have been a bad idea? Absolutely not. In fact, I was pretty sure that was the only solution. But, my friend had a different idea. Going to get the sore lanced would have been like Elijah igniting the altar. If they had gone to get it lanced, the homeless dude would have been able to give all the credit to the doctor's good judgment. Instead, we prayed. I was doubtful, but the reality was that the homeless guy was able to give credit where credit was due. I didn't heal him. My friend didn't heal him. The doctor didn't heal him.
Sometimes, we've gotta refrain from igniting the fire ourselves. There is a God waiting to reveal himself to us and the people around us, and we just need to stop trying to do all the work. Leave some variables unaccounted for. Drench the wood with water. Drench everything with water, and test God. See if God can and will engulf the altar with flames.
He tells the prophets to pick one oxen out of the two that are standing there, butcher it, and lay it on the altar. But, they are not to ignite the offering. He tells them to ask Baal to ignite the altar. The prophets pray all morning long to no avail. They try every religious trick in the book to get the ox to catch on fire, but nothing happens. Elijah starts taunting them, saying, "Is Baal on vacation? Has he overslept?"
After the prophets get their turn at getting Baal to ignite the ox, Elijah steps up. He grabs his ox, butchers it, and lays it on the wood. To add to the suspense, he tells the people to fetch buckets of water and drench the wood, the ox, and the area around the altar three times. Everything is completely soaked in water.
Then Elijah prays, "God, make it known that you are the God of Israel, the true God, and that I am your servant. Make it known that I am doing what you ask me to so that these people can know you and have a chance to change their thinking about who you are."
Immediately, a fire falls down and ignites everything. It burns up the wood, the ox, the dirt, and the water that's sitting in the trench around the altar. When the people see this, they fall to their faces and start worshiping. They realize they've been following a scam, that Baal couldn't answer the prayers they were offering up. Baal couldn't come through. They needed evidence and they got it.
My friend and his wife have been taking care of a couple homeless guys. By night, they've been sleeping in a tent under a bridge, and by day my friends have been giving them meals and showers. One of the guys got bitten by a spider while he was sleeping one night, and my friend took him to the hospital. The bite had gone from bad to worse as the bite turned into a blistering, green, boil. He could barely walk or sit down without splintering pain shooting through his whole body.
The guy knew he needed to get the bite lanced, but he didn't have health insurance. The doctor at the ER simply gave him a prescription for antibiotics, knowing that he was losing money in the deal if he were to lance it. So, we picked him up from the hospital and went to get the prescription. Knowing that antibiotics weren't enough, we called our doctor friend and asked him what we should do. He told us that the boil needed to be lanced in order to evacuate all the poison and fluid. He offered to do it himself the next morning when he got home from work.
As we sat there thinking about what to do, my friend decided to try prayer. He wanted to see if prayer would heal the spider bite. I kind of laughed and told him the prayer was already answered. Our doctor friend already offered to lance the boil. But, my friend was convinced that prayer was just as valid of a solution.
When we got home, it was late. My friend took out his Bible and started reading passages that had to do with suffering and character. The homeless dude listened along and commented throughout the reading. Then, we huddled around and prayed. All three of us prayed in our own screwed up ways, asking God to heal the boil. My friend prayed that the fluid would leak out, and that the boil would go away. I thought back to a story I had read about a handicapped guy sitting beside a pool of water. I thought about Jesus coming up to the guy and telling him to get up. I didn't know what to expect, if anything. I had pretty much reached a conclusion that these kinds of prayers don't work. We spent about twenty minutes praying, then I had to go to sleep.
When I called my friend back a couple days later, I wanted to know if the boil had gone away. This is what he said, "Manny woke up that next day, and his shorts were all crusty. All the fluid had leaked out of the boil. He's walking around fine now, and the pain went away." I went to see for myself, and it was true. The homeless guy was moving around unscathed, pain free.
Do I think going to our doctor friend would have been a bad idea? Absolutely not. In fact, I was pretty sure that was the only solution. But, my friend had a different idea. Going to get the sore lanced would have been like Elijah igniting the altar. If they had gone to get it lanced, the homeless dude would have been able to give all the credit to the doctor's good judgment. Instead, we prayed. I was doubtful, but the reality was that the homeless guy was able to give credit where credit was due. I didn't heal him. My friend didn't heal him. The doctor didn't heal him.
Sometimes, we've gotta refrain from igniting the fire ourselves. There is a God waiting to reveal himself to us and the people around us, and we just need to stop trying to do all the work. Leave some variables unaccounted for. Drench the wood with water. Drench everything with water, and test God. See if God can and will engulf the altar with flames.
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